Max R. Peterson, MESSENGER (Mission to Mercury) project manager for the $286 million project for NASAs Office of Space Science at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md., visited New Philadelphia High School to share his experiences and talk to the students about science and engineering careers in space. These students are involved with Project Lead the Way, a science and engineering program that is offered to freshman through senior students who are interested in that field of study after graduation.
Peterson brought a table full of space technology that was loaned from the APL educational department. It allowed students to see and handle heat resistant materials, some as thin as tissue paper. It also allowed them to see computer board samples, including circuits and chip technology that are found in todays spacecraft. Students witnessed and some were able to participate in a light reflection and heat transfer experiment with materials that were used on the MESSENGER.
Peterson retired from Johns Hopkins University APL after a distinguished career spanning more than 40 years doing what he loved. His early work included data instrumentation, overall data handling system design and the test of several near-earth spacecraft. He then entered into management as the assistant program manager for the spacecraft AMPTE and then Polar BEAR along with several others including MESSENGER.
